610 pounds of phosphorus

13,200 pounds of potassium

1,200 pounds of magnesium

3,430 pounds of calcium

“Rather low in everything,” said Percy, “compared with any soil I know that has a good reputation.  More uniformly poor but not so extremely poor as the Leonardtown loam.”

He wished that the nitrogen had been determined by the chemist, even though he knew the organic matter and the nitrogen must be very low in the poor soils, but nowhere was any such record to be found in the bulletin.  He found the statement, however, that all data were reported on the basis of ignited soil.

“That will reduce some of these amounts about one-tenth,” he said to himself.  “In our physics work in college, good soils generally lost about ten per cent. in weight by ignition, even after all hygroscopic moisture had been expelled; but these very poor soils haven’t much to lose, I guess.  They surely contain no carbonates and very little organic matter, although they may contain some combined water.”

CHAPTER XXIV

THE NATION’S CAPITOL

Percy spent three days in Washington.

“If I lived here long,” he wrote his mother, “I think I should become as optimistic as the Secretary of Agriculture, even though the total produce of the original thirteen states should supply a still smaller fraction of the necessities of life required by their population.  The Congressional Library is by far the finest structure I have ever seen.  I cannot help feeling proud that I am an American when I walk through its halls and look upon the portraits of the great men who helped to make our country truly great.

“As I shook hands with the President of the United States at one of his public receptions held in the ‘East Room’ of the White House, I wondered if there was another country on the earth where the humblest subject could thus come face to face with the head of a mighty nation.  In the Treasury Building I was permitted to join a small party of some distinction and shared with each of them the privilege of holding in my hands for a moment eight million dollars in government bonds.

“I have visited many of the great buildings, the Capitol, of course, and Washington’s monument, which rises to a height of 555 feet above the surrounding land, or practically 600 feet above low-water level in the Potomac.  There are many smaller monuments erected in honor of American heroes in various squares, circles, and parks throughout the City.

“The zoological garden took a full half-day, and I could have spent a much longer time there.  They told me of a frightful occurrence that happened only last week.  In a pool of water a very large alligator is kept confined by a low stout iron fence.  A negro woman was leaning over the fence holding her baby in her arms and looking at the monster who seemed to be asleep; when, without a moment’s warning, he thrust himself half out of the water and snapped the baby from her arms, swallowing it at one gulp as he settled back into the water.  I fear the report is true enough, for they have made the fence higher in a very temporary manner, and I heard it mentioned by a dozen or more.